


Worth

by arandomshipper (Giveadogabone)



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Crimes & Criminals, Eventual Fluff, F/F, Mild OOCness, Theft, a bit disturbing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 12:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10831494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Giveadogabone/pseuds/arandomshipper
Summary: A prize desired.  A theft completed.  A price to be paid.  Always, the final question:  Was it worth it?





	1. Chapter 1

Shego had been planning this heist for weeks. Casing the joint, gathering intel, pouring over blueprints. It wasn't something she did for every job. She rarely needed to. For most jobs, even going in blind was just a walk in the park for her. But this wasn't most jobs. It wasn't every day she attempted to break into the headquarters of Global Justice.

Of course, technically it wasn't a job, either. She didn't have to do it. Money had ceased to be an issue for her sometime after her networth broke the hundred million range, and her activity in thievery had plummeted since then. These days, she mostly only stole when Drakken asked her to. Those were jobs. But every once in a while, she found something she really, really wanted, that simply wasn't on the market for purchase. When she went after those, it wasn't a job, it was pure pleasure. This particular job landed solidly in the second category. Drakken knew nothing of what she was after tonight, and that's how it would remain.

Why did she even want it so bad? She contemplated this question as she watched the building through her binoculars from her perch a few miles away. The difficulty level was definitely a part of it. Breaking into the center of GJ HQ would be the greatest of a long, distinguished list of achievements for her. Bragging rights played a large part. The reaction was also a factor. To see the look on their faces when they realized what she had taken. An involuntary chuckle escaped her lips, imagining it. Was there any other reason? Maybe. She shrugged off the thought.

It was getting close to time. She'd brought a number of gadgets with her. Again, that was highly unusual. She needed nothing but her raw skill for most thefts. But this was an entirely different level of security. There were literally thousands of agents in the building at any given time, with a good portion of them devoted actively to providing biological security. And of course, the mechanical security was cutting edge, both hardware and software alike. She had to employ similarly cutting edge technology to bypass it.

At least one Satellite Eye was always on the building. Thus, her current position, beneath an alcove that protected her from its sight. A few weeks back, Drakken had decided to launch some of his failed experiments into space in a fit of rage. Shego had taken control of one of the launches, calculating the trajectory to make it pass between this satellite and earth in one hour from now, obstructing its view of the building for exactly 20 seconds. That had taken a LOT of math. Her head was still aching a little.

Of course, 20 seconds was not enough to cover the three miles from her position to her target. She was fast, but not that fast. She had a rocket-propelled zipline for that. An ordinary person probably wouldn't survive the 200+ mph trip, let alone survive uninjured. Thankfully, Shego was anything but ordinary.

Then there was the human element. She'd had to not only learn the routine of every agent on security, but also obtain the schedule of every person with access to the building, just so random chance didn't do her in. That had involved a whole lot of hacking and even more math, which had to be done before the launch was calculated.

Finally, there were the mechanical eyes everywhere. That was the easiest problem to solve, with the greatest number of possible solutions. She'd gone with the simplest, remotely hacking the controls and setting the feed to loop a two second clip of whatever was there before she came into view. They would still record whatever was in view, of course, but the monitors would show nothing to the men on duty. Not until they viewed the recordings would they find evidence that she had been there, which suited her just fine.

And all of that was just the beginning, getting her into the building. Her goal was not at the front of the building, oh no. That would be far too easy. What she wanted was at the very heart of GJ HQ.

It was somewhat puzzling, no matter how difficult the heist would be, that the object of her desire was even still available for capture. She hadn't so much as suspected that it might be, happening upon the information that it was indeed still 'on the market', so to speak,entirely by chance while deep undercover as a GJ operative, working a job for Drakken earlier that month. She'd immediately began planning this attempt, hardly believing her good luck. She didn't think she could possibly be the only person that valued it highly, so it must be sheer intimidation at the scope of it that kept anyone else from taking it. Well, that all worked out in her favor, so she was grateful.

Her moment came. She activated her camera hack and fired the zipline. It bit into the wall about ten feet above the main doors just as an agent went inside. She crossed the distance in an instant and dropped silently to the ground, following the agent into the building just before the doors wooshed closed. As predicted, no one else was around to see her enter.

She shadowed the agent, staying just behind him out of his line of sight, making faces at any cameras they passed just for kicks, until they came to the door leading to the emergency stairs. Her goal was on the eleventh floor of the twenty-two story building, so she had some climbing to do.

This part of the heist was boring. Deactivating the alarm on the emergency door was child's play, she could do that much in her sleep. There was no chance of encountering another person on the way up, so there was no thrill or need for skill to distract her from the eleven-flight-climb.

The very reverse was true once she reached the eleventh floor. This was where the most important personnel in the agency resided. Their doings were so classified that it had taken days of work to obtain their schedules, but what was truly troubling was that they were all subject to change at a moment's notice. Shego had no way of being certain what would happen once she opened the door. The adrenaline rush was delicious.

No guts, no glory. She looked at her watch, observing it count down to her next calculated moment, this one far less dependable than the last, took a few deep, calming breaths, and strode through the door like she owned the place. Luck was with her. Everyone kept to their schedules as they had been when she'd checked a few hours earlier. She walked through corridors and hallways, coming into view over and over just as a door closed behind a person entering a room, never seen and never heard.

And then it happened. She was completely exposed, right in the middle of a hallway, less than a hundred feet from her objective, when she heard the unmistakable and unwelcome sound of the doorway at the end of the hall granting access. With no time to think and very little to react, she wall-kicked her way up to the ceiling, clinging to it like Spiderman with her claws and the toes of her boots, which she had equipped with molecular bonding devices for just such an occasion. She eyed the door at the end of the hall, annoyed, wanting to beat the person that had screwed up her perfect schedule, almost wanting it enough to throw away the chance at her prize. Almost.

Through the door walked Will Du. Of course. She wanted to groan in frustration, but she remained silent. He walked through the hall in his typical manner, staring straight ahead, which was good for her. No one ever looked up.

Just as he was directly beneath her, his communicator went off, and he stopped.

"Du. Yes, Agent Robinson, as I said, I'm on my way. No, I don't think I should inform the Director, this decision is well within my authority to make."

As he nattered on, the ceiling chunks Shego clung to with her claws came off into her hands, and she flopped down. Shego was not one to panic, not ever, but the sight of her hair dangling less than an inch from touching the Agent's head was nearly enough to set her off. She was held in place only by the precarious strength of the untested molecular bonding technology in her boots, and considering that it was Drakken who had come up with it, panic seemed like a very good option right then.

Will was still talking. "Of course I'm the best choice for this job, who else would it be? No, it is in no way a conflict of interest to send myself on a field mission. I'll be there shortly, we can talk more extensively about your questioning of my authority then. Out."

Shego could feel the bonding of the boots failing little by little throughout the conversation. Just as he finished speaking and took a step forward, they came loose completely. She flipped in midair and landed silently just behind him on her feet like a cat.

She was far from out of the woods, though. He felt the disturbance in the air and paused for a moment, then suddenly turned around. Shego rotated with him, shadowing him just as she had the agent earlier, always just out of his line of sight. Unlike the other agent, he wasn't fooled. He pretended he was, and made as if to leave, then flipped around again. However, neither was Shego fooled by his performance. She rotated with him again. He tried this a couple more times, then blindly punched out behind him with a fist. Shego evaded his attack while still staying out of his line of sight. He growled in frustration and began attacking behind him in earnest, punching and kicking and repeatedly flipping around to try to gain sight of her. Shego continued to silently evade, unwilling to give him proof that she was actually there.

They proceeded down the hallway this way. Shego was very concerned that she would have to actually knock him out to be able to move on with her quest, something that would put the whole thing in jeopardy, when she spotted the answer to her dilemma. An open air vent. Feeling a bit strange for using her most frequent enemy's favored tactic, she flipped her way up into it and watched bemusedly from above as Du continued his fight against his shadow opponent.

A few minutes later, another agent came through the door into the hallway. He froze in his tracks at the sight of Will doing his strange dance, and just stared in confusion for a couple of minutes. Finally, he interrupted.

"Um, sir?...What are you doing?"

Du immediately halted and turned to face him. "Well obviously, I...wait, don't you see the...oh. Ahem. Just an exercise. A new exercise I've been working on. Planning to introduce it to the troops soon."

"I...see. Sir, have you considered taking some time off soon? I think you need it."

"Time off?! Evil never takes any time off, we can't either. Shame on you, agent."

"Of course, sir." The agent said resignedly.

Shego watched them go their way in relief. Finally. She proceeded without incident to the room. The room. Her goal was within reach. Just a few small obstacles before it would be hers. The hand scanner was the first, but that was easily taken care of. Even though it was designed to detect foreign objects posing as a hand, Shego's gloves registered as hands on the computer, and could project any handprint she added to its large database. Bypassing the second security check was another matter. She pulled out a vial from her ankle pouch. Obtaining this had been an excursion all on its own, nearly as difficult as the current heist. She was particularly proud of her ingenuity in managing to get it in the end, and now she put it to use. She dumped its contents onto the scanner. A series of beeps and boops, and a computer voice said, "Welcome to your chambers, Dr. Director." The door wooshed open.

Shego crept cautiously into the room, excitement filling her with energy. This was the moment of truth. Her intel said that this moment on this day held the greatest chance that Dr. Betty Director would be taking a nap, and it was as vital as it was uncertain that she was, or this whole thing would be a bust. Further, Shego had no idea how heavy or light a sleeper she was, something that would also play into the final stage of the theft.

There she was, sitting in a rocking chair. As Shego approached, her heart lept into her throat for a moment when she saw that the woman's eye was staring right at her, but she immediately calmed down at the lack of reaction. So, she sleeps with one eye open, Shego noted with amusement. That's soooo her style.

Closer and closer Shego slinked, now just inches away from her prize. She leaned over, and...

\---------------------------------------

"How dare you! You've gone too far this time, Shego!" Dr. Director was literally shaking with rage, a finger pointing in Shego's face. She punched Shego in the gut. Again. The agents holding Shego's arms were starting to look a little upset at the situation.

"Uh, ma'am-"

"No, **** the Geneva Convention! And you can quote me on that! I'll hit her as much as I want, understand?!"

"Ma'am." They responded quietly in uneasy assent.

Shego involuntarily bent over from the strength of the blow. Oh yes, she felt that one down to her bones. The Director had woken and instants later the room had been swarmed with agents, making escape impossible even for the greatest thief in the world. They'd fitted her with flame-retardant manacles to prevent her from using her powers in an attempt to pull off a miracle. She didn't care though. She had what she came for, and she couldn't give it back even if she wanted to. Their efforts were too late. She'd won.

Dr. Director glared at Shego for a long moment. "I'm leaving for a moment. When I come back, I'm giving you the beating of your life. And you'll get the same tomorrow. And every day until my anger is satiated."

She stalked off, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Shego stared impassively until she was out of sight. Then a wide grin slowly spread its way across her face. Her manacled hands went up, and she touched her fingers to her own lips.

"Worth."

\----------------------------------------------

Betty Director took a shower. She brushed her teeth. She gargled with ten different kinds of mouthwash. She took another shower. It didn't help. She felt utterly soiled. She sat on the edge of her bed, staring blankly at the wall, as her feelings slowly overwhelmed her. Tears began to drip down her face.

"How could she? That was my first kiss..."


	2. Chapter 2

Dr. Elizabeth 'Betty' Director paced her room restlessly. Her mind was in turmoil, as it had been for the past two weeks, ever since that...incident. She felt dirty. Unclean. Soiled. It was a feeling that began in her mind, but spread throughout her body. She'd been taking multiple showers a day, using all variety of soap and/or shampoo. Something like this couldn't be treated through such a method, and she knew that, but she couldn't help herself. It was inconceivable, what Shego had done to her. Whenever she thought about it, which was all the time, she swung back and forth between feelings of rage and depression. But that feeling of being soiled, that never went away.

There were other treatment methods, though. Once a day, each day for the last fourteen straight, she'd beaten the captive Shego to her heart's content. It should've been therapeutic, and it was...momentarily. She felt infinitely better while it was happening, but afterward, the dirty feeling always returned even stronger than before.

Betty had always been a work-obsessed individual. 'Workaholic' could only begin to describe how much of herself she put into her job. Now, thanks to this...thing...she couldn't even focus on work properly. For the first time in her life, her work was taking second priority in her mind, and through no choice of her own. It was enough to drive one insane.

Exercising, the only other outlet she'd ever allowed herself in the past, didn't help in the least. The past couple of days, she'd begun trying other common forms of distraction, things she'd never had any interest in before. Cat videos on YouTube. Video games, of the shooting variety, of course. Romance novels. Was that EVER the wrong choice. The prior two failed miserably, but the last one actually exacerbated the problem, forcibly bringing everything she was trying to forget to the forefront of her thoughts.

And so she paced. Avoiding the problem was a complete and total fail, so she had one option left, the one that suited her personality best anyway: confront it. Think it through. Face the problem directly, and find a solution. No more distractions. No more trying to trick the mind or the body. Discover what was at the very root of the problem, and fix it. What was wrong with her? Most people did not act this way, did not feel this way, from something like this. She knew that. Why was it different for her, and what could she do to change it? It was time to truly examine herself, and find out just what kind of person she was inside. Her pacing slowed as her mind began to race.

\------------------------

Shego's head rolled back and forth as she came groggily to consciousness. She glanced right, left, and down. Yep, still manacled to the wall. She flared a hand. Yep, the manacles were still flame-impervious. She took a quick inventory. Yep, still naked. Options?...Yep, still zilch.

Betty had really gone off the rails, here. Shego had to admit that she hadn't anticipated such a reaction. Even her worst-case-scenario projections had her placed in a typical max-security GJ cell after capture, which she would've broken out of in a few days, but this...this was something else. Betty hadn't registered Shego's capture at all. Officially, Shego was still at large. Which allowed Betty to ignore the regulations regarding humane treatment of prisoners. Like not chaining them to the wall. Or like not beating them to within an inch of their lives on a daily basis.

Shego felt something rolling around in her mouth. She spat out blood and... Oh. Another tooth. Yipee. Unlike any other adult human, Shego could regrow her teeth, but it was a very painful process. There's a reason babies scream their little heads off when their teeth are coming in. The feeling of her ribs re-knitting together was not pleasant either, and became even less so as her healing factor was taxed ever more heavily by the day. The floor below her was soaked in her blood. Pain tolerant though she was, she was beginning to think that her first assessment, that the prize she had nabbed was worth any price she had to pay for it, may have been just a little off.

The sound of the door opening was startling, as she'd already had her daily visit. Less surprising was the person walking through the door, as Shego had only had one visitor since being incarcerated here.

"'Sup, Bets? Once a day not doing it for you anymore? Well, go right ahead. You'll wear out long before I do." Shego bluffed. She was far from recovered from the prior beatings, and she really, really didn't want to have to tank another one, but there was no way she was going to let herself look weak in front of this woman.

But Betty did not immediately walk over and begin laying into her, as Shego had expected her to. She just stood there and stared into Shego's face looking for...something.

"What? You just come to ogle this time? I gotta admit, it is a pretty spectacular view. Even I gotta take a few minutes in the mirror to admire it every day." Shego masked her relief, as she did everything else, with humor and sarcasm.

Betty still didn't respond. The silence dragged on, making Shego feel very uncomfortable, in a way that had nothing to do with her being chained to a wall. She searched for something to say to break the oppressive atmosphere, but for once, she had nothing. Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, Betty finally spoke.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Shego asked, relieved at having a topic of conversation, but completely confused at the directionless inquiry.

"Why WHAT?! Are you SERIOUS?! You waltz into my room, in the middle of the company that I built, and tear my life apart, tear it completely to pieces, and when I ask you why, you have the gall to say 'why WHAT'?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold your horses there, Little Miss Drama Queen. Overreaction, much? Tear apart your life? Are you serious with this right now? Come on, it was just a ******* kiss!"

"It was not just a ******* kiss to me, and I know you know that from how much effort you put in to make it happen!" Betty took a deep, shuddering breath. Shego was shocked to see that this woman, the second most feared person in the villain community, the unflappable, unshakable, stoic, ever calm leader of Global Justice was on the verge of tears. Not just on the verge of crying, but about to burst into uncontrollable, hysterical tears.

"Hey, no, stop. Just stop, I...I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry! I didn't know you'd take it so hard, honest! Just..don't cry." Betty stared at her in disbelief. Shego could hardly believe it herself. She could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she'd apologized for anything in her life. Before this moment, she could count on the fingers of one hand that was formed into a fist. In any case, what business does a prisoner manacled to the wall have trying to comfort her captor? Nevertheless, she felt a strong urge to head off Betty's tears by any means possible, and Shego was never one to deny or question her urges. But now that the danger of waterworks had passed, Shego found herself increasingly curious. "Why is it so important to you, anyway?"

"It's...I've never tried to put it into words before. I don't know if I can really explain it. Especially not to you. There's no way someone like you could possibly understand."

"Try me." Shego challenged.

"Fine." Betty sighed. "I probably need to vocalize it anyway, for my own benefit. Just thinking about it by myself hasn't helped at all. I just keep going in circles in my head." She sat on the ground and leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes.

"I know most people don't take romance very seriously. They treat it like a game. If you screw it up, just hit the reset button. Break it off and try again with someone new. I never wanted to be like that. Maybe I should say it more like, I always wanted to be the opposite of that. One romance, for my whole life. One first love, one first kiss, one first...well, you know. One first everything. No second tries. Kind of like destiny. I don't really believe in destiny, or rather, I believe destiny is something we make for ourselves, but I always thought this was within my reach. If I just saved myself, no falling in love, no one-night-stands, not even kissing, then one day I might meet that one other person, maybe not a perfect person, but someone else who's been saving them self too, and we can have all our firsts together."

"That sounds like a recipe for an instant single-at-eighty life to me." Shego snarked.

Betty gave a little smile, eyes still closed. "And I would've been fine with that, if that's how it turned out. That would just mean that I did the best I could on my end, and the person I could've met didn't do the same. Or maybe we crossed paths, but we never became anything because of some other failure of mine that I didn't anticipate. Either way, I would've been satisfied with that result." Her smile disappeared, and her lower lip began trembling again. "But now it's different. Even if I meet the perfect person, my first kiss is already gone. My dream is dead."

Shego snorted. "I still say that's an overreaction. First kisses don't mean anything. A babe like you, no guy is going to care if your first kiss is gone or not, as long as he can hit that. I don't care if he's a mouth virgin or what, that's what he'll be thinking. I guarantee it."

Betty's eyes snapped open, and she glared at Shego. "I shouldn't have bothered trying to explain it to you. Of course you wouldn't get it. Someone like you couldn't possibly understand true romance."

"What's that supposed to mean, 'someone like you'?"

"A shameless flirt, giving it away to anyone who looks at her sideways. A loose woman, flaunting her body at any given opportunity. An easy girl. Someone. Like. You."

"Hey! That's...okay yeah, that's actually pretty accurate. But still! You think I don't understand romance, just because I'm a little on the flirty side?"

"Of course you can't understand! Do you have any idea what it's like to save your first kiss for thirty years, only to have it stolen by someone who doesn't give a **** about you? Just to mess with your head? No, you don't! It's just...It's not...AHHHH!" She broke down in angry tears, slamming her fists on the ground.

"Awww, Betty, come on now. Betty. Bets? It's okay, it'll be alright. Why don't you come over here and hit me some more? That always makes you feel better, right?" Though Shego had thought just minutes before that she would do almost anything to get out of another beating, now she found to her astonishment that she would rather take that beating than have to see the tears of one Dr. Betty Director.

Dr. Director ignored her and just continued sobbing, curled up into a ball on the ground. Shego racked her brain for anything that could end the torture of watching this woman cry, but she drew a complete blank. Just as Betty said, Shego simply couldn't understand. She certainly didn't value her own first kiss so highly.

As the sobs slowly faded, Shego decided to try one more time. "Look, it's really not that big a deal. I mean, it was my first kiss too, and you don't see me freaking out about it."

Dr. Director's head shot up. "What?"

"I said, it was my first kiss too. Not a big deal. Who cares? It's not like the first one has any more significance than any of the others."

"You're lying. That couldn't have been your first."

"And why not?"

"Because of what I already said. You're a shameless flirt, flaunting your body-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't deny it. I flirt. I flaunt. So what? It's all in good fun. No one ever got my engine going, so I never actually kissed anyone. Not that it would've mattered if I did. That's the whole point I'm getting at. If you wanna kiss, kiss. If you don't, don't. It doesn't matter."

Betty stared at her long and hard. "You're...really telling the truth? You never kissed anyone?"

"Nope."

"What about...beyond kissing?"

"Beyond kissing, what're you...oh, what, you mean sex? Gah, you are such a prude! Beyond kissing, hah! Uh, no, though. No. You can check my hymen if you don't believe me, I'm in no position to stop you. Unless you broke it with one of your punches when I was too out of it to notice, it's still there."

The look in Betty's eyes was changing by the second. The hopeless depression that had been there was fading, and it was being replaced by something different. Something positive. Shego couldn't help but feel happy about the change, though why she should be happy her captor was feeling better, she had no idea. Maybe because it meant she was less likely to be beaten?

"Shego, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead. I've got nothing better to do at the moment. I was thinking about going window shopping, maybe buying a few things with the five finger discount, but then I was like, 'nah, I'll just stay here and answer Betty's questions instead'."

She ignored Shego's sarcasm. "It's the same question I started with. Why'd you do it? It had to have been difficult to break into my room, and it seems like you did all this with no exit strategy whatsoever. At first, I thought you were trying to throw my life into turmoil, but now it seems like you didn't even know it would affect me like like this, and you're even trying to comfort me. It seems like a whole lot of trouble, and for what? What do you even get out this? Up until this moment, I would've sworn up and down to anyone who asked that you wouldn't lift a finger unless there was a large paycheck in it for you. So why this? Why me?"

Shego was very uncomfortable, a feeling she was definitely not used to, being someone supremely comfortable in her own skin, who ordinarily could not be thrown off kilter by anything. But she remembered contemplating this very question the day she made her fateful infiltration, and none of her reasons from that time rang true to her any longer, except maybe that one reason that she never quite grasped, not being given much to self-examination or deep thinking.

She shrugged, as far as she was able in her position. "Maybe I just wanted to be able to say I broke into GJ HQ."

"No. There are targets of infinitely greater value within our HQ that would've been far easier to obtain. Try again."

"Maybe I just wanted to see what you would do."

"No, I don't buy that either. The fact that you keep saying maybe is a tip off that that's not your real reason."

Shego's frustration increased as she continued her fruitless self-searching. "Why does it even matter? It was just a kiss, Bets! Who the **** cares?"

"I care! Please, Shego. I need to know. It's very important to me."

Shego glared. She wasn't glaring at Betty. She was just glaring aimlessly, focusing inward as she never had before, but the answer eluded her still. "I don't know, okay? I don't know. I just wanted to. I wanted to, so I did. Story of my life. I'm not a complicated person, Bets. Maybe there's some deep reason, but if so I don't even know what it is. I just do whatever the **** I feel like. That's who I am. Get used to it."

Betty just looked at her for a long moment, finally coming to a visible conclusion. She stood. "That sounds like excellent advice, Shego. I think I'll take it. If I can."

"Huh?" Shego once again could not follow the apparently random line of thinking, especially when Betty took out the key and began undoing the manacles.

"I'm going to cut you a deal, Shego." Shego nearly collapsed as she was freed, but Betty caught her and lowered her gently to a sitting position. "I'll give you some time to recover, and then you'll fight me. I'm aware that ordinarily I would have no chance, but I believe you're weakened enough to make this a fair fight. First one knocked unconscious loses. If you win, I'll let you go. I've got your catsuit in a bag just outside the room. You can wait for me to wake up and I'll walk you out, or just make your own escape if you're confident enough."

"Sounds good to me." Said Shego. "Not that it matters, since there's no way you'll win, but what happens if I lose?"

Dr. Director leaned in close, until her face was less than an inch from Shego's. "You take ******* responsibility."


	3. Epilogue

"Mmmmm." Shego woke up to what had become her favorite sensation to wake up to, over the years. Arms around her middle. Bare breasts pressed against her back. Two legs tangled together with her own two. A face buried in her hair. Breath on the back of her neck. "MmmMMmm."

She could tell from the pattern of the breathing that her bedmate was still asleep. She knew from experience that any attempt to move would change that in an instant, so she remained where she was, just basking in the sensations. Heaven on earth.

Eventually, the breathing pattern changed. Shego slowly, ever so slowly, turned over, and faced the woman of her dreams. And nightmares. But mostly dreams. "G'moring, my beautiful wife. Happy next-day anniversary."

Betty smiled the smile of a person perfectly content with all facets of life, and scooted in to give Shego a soft, slow, surprisingly chaste kiss (considering that they were lying naked, in bed, with their nipples touching each other). "Good morning, my even more beautiful wife. Happy next-day anniversary."

They lay there staring into each other's eyes and cuddling, an activity ranked high on the list of favorites for both of them. The opportunities were rare. Betty was as much a workaholic as ever. Running an international crime-fighting association was a 24/7 job, sometimes literally. If there was one thing Shego didn't like about their seven-year relationship, it was watching Betty work herself to death, sometimes going weeks at a time without eating or sleeping properly. However, Betty had made one thing clear to her subordinates, painfully so in one particular case: There was one week a year during which she was not to be disturbed. No matter the crises, you DO NOT contact her on the week of her anniversary.

As the cuddles and caresses slowly began to escalate, as was so often the case, Shego was working her way into being 'in the mood', when she saw that familiar look in Betty's eye. Oh, no. Not this again.

"Shego, can I ask you something?"

Shego groaned. She knew what was coming. Betty was so tenacious, her instincts were strong, and she simply could not drop an idea, not even for her own benefit.

"No."

"But I have to know."

"I've told you before."

"I need to hear you say it again. Swear to me you're not lying."

Shego sat up and looked at her wife with all the sincerity and honesty she could muster. "Okay, fine. I'll tell you one more time. Now, look me in the eye, and know that I'm telling the truth. I'm Shego. I never lost a fight on purpose in my ******* life. Got it?"

Betty stared into Shego's eyes for a long while. "Okay." She finally said. "I believe you." She hugged Shego's head to her ample chest in reward for her honesty.

Of course, Shego thought as she gleefully pressed her face further in, in this case, you and I may have different ideas of what it means to win.


End file.
